One neighbor told the desperate mom, who had been stabbed and slashed, to go away when she frantically knocked on their door for help at the Bronx apartment
10:09 ET, 29 Oct 2025Updated 10:09 ET, 29 Oct 2025
The young girl was found with “some type of tool” lodged up her nose, according to sources(Image: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock)
A 12-year-old girl has survived a risky surgery to remove a screw her stepdad hammered up her nose and into her brain.
Blood was left smeared on the front door of the family’s Bronx, New York apartment after the horrific incident. Her attacker, who police say is Joshua Burnside, 28, has reportedly attempted to take his own life.
Burnside allegedly also attack his 31 year old wife, the girl’s mom, stabbing her in the stomach and slashing her face.
“It’s pretty much a miracle she made it through,” a law enforcement source said after the girl’s surgery, reports Daily News.
The young girl was found with “some type of tool” lodged up her nose, according to sources. “She’s not going to be right,” an insider revealed to the New York Post.
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The violent spree began around 11 pm with the frantic mom left knocking on neighbors doors asking for help.
A neighbor recounted the chilling aftermath, describing how the frantic mom was knocking on doors pleading for help, even asking him for a knife.
“She’s bleeding from her head, she was showing us her stab wounds, she had a stab wound in her gut,” the neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, shared.
The violent spree began around 11 pm with the frantic mom left knocking on neighbors doors asking for help(Image: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock)
“She asked for a knife, and I was like ‘No.’ We were trying to be helpful and mind our business at the same time, you know? We don’t want to bring problems.
“We were the first ones that came out, other people came out,” the neighbor added. “Somebody else told her to go away.”
The alleged attacker was arrested and charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and acting in a manner injurious to a child for the brutal attack, police confirmed.
Joshua Burnside later made a suicide attempt, which has delayed his still-pending arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court, law enforcement sources said.
A concerned neighbor, fearing for his own children, dialed 911.
“My child! My child! Give me my child!” the woman screamed through the apartment door, a neighbor said.
“(The mom) was knocking on everybody’s door looking for help,” said a neighbor. “Her face was slashed and she was stabbed in the abdomen. She said she had been attacked, (that) it was her ex-husband and her kid might be dead.”
Two younger children in the apartment, a 5 year old boy and 2 year old girl, Burnside’s biological children, were unharmed, according to law enforcement sources.
Burnside sustained a wrist injury and was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition. The knife was found at the scene, police confirmed.
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